upper cervical blog

fig. 1 - the balance nerve, and the hearing nerve combine to form the vestibulocochlear nerve or eighth cranial nerve of the brain stem. This nerve connects the ear to the brain through the brainstem so that you can hear, and stay balanced in gravity.

Vertigo is a condition of dizziness and loss of balance, you may even feel like the room is spinning up to and including nausea and vomiting. Hearing Loss can occur for many reasons and is commonly associated with vertigo. Tinnitus is described best as ringing in the ears that can present as a roaring, clicking, hissing, or buzzing type sensation and the intensity can vary.

The common denominator is the eighth cranial nerve also known as the vestibulocochlear nerve and its relationship to the brainstem and upper cervical spinal column. The eight cranial nerve is very special as it is the all in one nerve that controls your sense of balance (vestibulo = balance), and it allows you to hear (cochlear = hearing). (see figure 1 above) When damaged or interfered with in any way it can cause any combination of vertigo, hearing loss, or tinnitus symptoms. In many cases an injury to the upper cervical spinal column is the the root cause.

Subluxation Induced Vertigo, Hearing Loss, and Tinnitus

The eighth cranial nerve comes directly from the brain stem and CONNECTS the ear to the brain for your sense of balance, and hearing. What if you suffered an injury to your head or neck that interfered with the CONNECTION of the eighth cranial nerve, reducing its ability to communicate back and forth with the brain? Could this cause vertigo symptoms? What about hearing loss or tinnitus? What if this injury to the upper neck were to disrupt the normal blood flow to the area of the brainstem that controls the eighth cranial nerve? Is it possible that this could cause the nerve to malfunction producing symptoms? The most common CAUSE of Subluxation is a previous injury to the head or neck such as: a hard slip or a fall, a motor vehicle accident, a sport injury etc. A Subluxation occurs when the connective tissues that hold the upper cervical spine together are torn loose allowing one of the upper two neck bones to misalign and lock out into a stressed position. The brain stem exits the floor of the skull in this area and ends near the top two neck bones. Could a Subluxation interfere with blood flow in and out of the head?(ref. 1, 2, 3 et.al.) According to research it can in fact do so! Could a Subluxation interfere with how the brain talks back and forth with the body?(ref. 4,5 et.al.) According to research it can in fact do so! In virtually all cases the average time it takes for symptoms of a Subluxation to start showing up is 10-15 years and in many cases even longer than that. In many cases damage to the spine can be dated to give us an approximation of when the Subluxation began. It is eerie how often this matches up with a previous injury the patient sustained in the years prior, which is just now producing symptoms.

To learn more about the connection between head and neck injuries and vertigo download our complimentary e-book by clicking the image below.

Upper Cervical Care For The Correction of Subluxation

Upper Cervical Chiropractic care is a systematic approach to locate, and correct injuries to the upper neck. This is achieved by a procedure that is designed to 1. determine the nature and extent of the spinal injury, 2. determine disruption to nervous system function using a form of thermography, 3. determine how long the spinal injury has been present and the prospects for correction.It is important to also note that not all vertigo, hearing loss, and tinnitus are due to Subluxation. With that said the most commonly overlooked source of these problems is in fact due to a Subluxation. The bottom line is that a Subluxation is a neuro-vascular disorder that interferes with the nervous systems ability to communicate back and forth with the body and therefore produces some sort of dysfunction. What type of problem develops from a Subluxation depends on a several different factors such as: 1. the nature and extent of the spinal injury, 2. how long has the injury been present?, 3.most importantly the patients unique anatomy in the upper cervical spinal area. As an example it is known that there are over 83 different variations of how the blood flows in and out of the head. It is common knowledge that whatever structures in the body don't get enough blood, will not function properly. It is also common knowledge that a small amount of pressure or irritation to the brain stem or spinal cord can cause neurological dysfunction. Have you ever heard of DYSAUTONOMIA?

Are You A Candidate For Upper Cervical Care?

Dr. Grayson Blom works with a nationwide group of Doctors expertly trained and specializing in the Upper Cervical Procedure. Dr. Blom is also one of the few Doctors in the state of Idaho trained and certified in the Upper Cervical Procedure. We are dedicated to helping patients just like you, who suffer from vertigo, hearing loss, tinnitus and other spinal-related disorders. Our office is offering a COMPLIMENTARY CONSULTATION to determine if you are a candidate for Upper Cervical care. You can give us a call at (208) 559-0541 or just click the button below.

It is time to announce the completion of our top secret Titronic's project. We have incorporated for the first time EVER the ability to mark up to 20 constants on your scans that you can place individually that stay with each individual patient. So you can quickly check for pattern using the Duff analysis as taught by Dr. Duff. Yes, that's right no more drawing stuff out by hand!We have completed beta testing and the update is now ready for use. Titronic's will release the update in the next few days. If you have the Titronics software 2.0 and above it will prompt you for the update. Otherwise you can go into set up and click check for updates. If this does not work then call Titronic's directly. To check to see which version of the software you have, simply go to set up which should be in your top left corner of the Titronic's page home screen.Here is how it works:Step 1 - Pull up your Titronic's software and hit "F5" select your best 3-5 initial scans for pattern (make sure the scans are all the same length!!), then hit "overlay selected" at the top of the menu bar. Step 2 - To mark your constants hit "L", then mark the constants you want by clicking laterally to the lines. Step 3 - Hit "L" again to when done lock them in. (Don't worry if you make an error just hit "L" twice to erase all lines and begin again.) Step 4 - If you want to remove the constants from a particular patient just pull them up open a scan and hit "L" two times to erase the constants that you marked. P.S. - You can toggle the lines on and off the patient account by hitting "H" so that you may also show just the scans. P.S.S. - The lines will also stay if you wish to print scans as well!I would like to dedicate this update to the late Dr. Brian Duff in his honor to thank him for his work and his dedication to TIC. I would also like to thank Chris at Titronic's for his help in making this possible, and last but not least Dr. Mike Anderson for sharing his know how to help the rest of us grow.

PLEASE SHARE THIS POST WITH ANYONE YOU KNOW THAT WOULD LIKE TO KNOW HOW TO USE THIS UPDATE!!Kind regards,

Occipital Neuralgia is one of the most common diseases that people frequently confuse with migraines and other types of severe headaches due to the fact that THE SYMPTOMS ARE VERY SIMILAR! Occipital Neuralgia is a neurological disease that occurs due to the inflammation and irritation of the nerves exiting from the top of your spinal cord through the top of your neck, and back up through the scalp.Occipital Neuralgia stated simply is nerve pain that originates from the back of the head also called the occiput that radiates out along the path of the nerves.If you have been diagnosed with Occipital Neuralgia or are experiencing pain in the back of your head or upper neck area or even if you suffer from headaches, read on and maybe this will give you an idea of what might be causing your problem.

Symptoms of Occipital Neuralgia?

Occipital Neuralgia can cause a really sharp stinging feeling which is accompanied by an intense sharp pain at the back of the head and the neck. Common symptoms for Occipital Neuralgia include:- Pain when moving your neck- An unusually tender scalp- Pain behind either one of your eyes- Heightened sensitivity to light- Throbbing pain that gradually starts at the base of the head and radiates to the scalpPlease note: doesn't this sound an awful lot like a migraine headache?

Injuries to The Neck and Occipital Neuralgia

An injury to the neck due to some sort of accident such as: a car wreck, sports injury (especially with concussion), a hard fall etc. is very likely to tear loose the connective tissues that hold your spine together allowing the upper neck to misalign. To make a long story short, months or even years later you are likely to develop symptoms or even worse Occipital Neuralgia. The reason being that injuries to the neck very commonly result in the misalignment of one of the two top neck bones, commonly known as Atlas or Axis; this leads to irritation and pressure in and around the brain stem, and upper spinal cord, which is the connection between the brain and the body. The brain stem ends where the spinal cord begins, and the spinal cord is literally a bunch of nerves that tell the body what to do. Every signal is emitted from the brain stem as the master control center of the body and the spinal cord nerves are just used as a channel to convey the signals throughout the body.A misalignment in the upper neck affects you in two ways. First, your brain is unable to communicate with the rest of your body adequately, and secondly, a misalignment in the upper neck alters your center of gravity. When your head goes off-center, your spine creates abnormal curvatures below to compensate, and this results in the loss of normal spinal curves over time. This relates to the spinal cord in that; if you lose your normal spinal curves, then you lose the extra slack in the spinal canal and your nerves exiting along the spine can end up being under tension in certain areas of the spine, much like tightening a guitar string. Your unique spinal anatomy will dictate where that tension ends up. The 3 most common spinal compensation areas that come under high stress in the human spinal column are:1. The upper neck2. The lower neck, upper back and shoulder area3. The lower back and hip areaOver time these high stress areas will become inflamed, symptoms will develop, and the spine will start to degenerate. Please note that what you may see in any anatomy textbook only occurs 30% of the time at best meaning 70% of the time spinal structures are highly variable, and especially cranial nerves and spinal nerves. Spinal nerves can begin and end in many different variations. With Occipital Neuralgia there are 3 nerves we need to consider:1. The suboccipital nerve - originates between Atlas or C1 and the Occiput.2. The greater occipital nerve - originates between Atlas and Axis or C1 and C2.3. The lesser occipital nerve - originates between Axis or C2 and C3.

Is it possible that an old injury to the neck has resulted in spinal misalignment and over the months and years since then the chronic irritation to one or all of the occipital nerves has resulted in pain in the back of your head that now radiates?

Upper Cervical Chiropractic Care In Boise, Idaho

If you have been experiencing Occipital Neuralgia, it would be a good idea to look into Upper Cervical Chiropractic care and if you live in Boise, Idaho we offer a free consultation to determine if Upper Cervical Chiropractic care is right for you.If you have already gone the medical route hopefully you have come to the conclusion that just covering up your symptoms with injections or medications will NEVER fix a spinal structural problem. Upper cervical chiropractic care is designed to reposition your head and neck in the proper alignment so that the stress on your joints and muscles is removed and as the spinal structures begin to heal themselves, symptoms will start to fade away. Specialized x-rays are taken to determine the nature and quality of the misalignment. Infrared thermography is used to document irritation and interference throughout the neck. Then the spinal correction is given using a precision touch to correct it.

If you are experiencing occipital neuralgia, don’t wait! Call us for a Complimentary Consultation to discuss your health concerns and determine if Upper Cervical care is right for you. Dr. Grayson Blom works with a nationwide group of Doctors expertly trained and specializing in the Upper Cervical procedure.Dr. Blom is also one of the few Doctors in the state of Idaho trained and certified in the Upper Cervical procedure. We are dedicated to helping patients just like you who suffer from occipital neuralgia symptoms, chronic neck pain, headaches, shoulder pain, back pain and other ailments and dis-eases. And right now, our office is offering a COMPLIMENTARY CONSULTATION to determine if you are a candidate for Upper Cervical care, give us a call at (208) 559-0541 for a complimentary consultation OR you can fill out a consult request form above.

If you ask yourself the following questions, you should take some time to understand the most common CAUSES of NECK PAIN.

What is the source of my chronic neck pain?

Why does my neck hurt every day?

How does neck pain start?

Understanding Your Neck Pain?

The general population is unaware of the fact that your neck is also called the cervical spine. It begins at the base of the skull and contains seven small vertebrae. The cervical spine bears the entire weight of the head, which weighs between 10-16 pounds (similar to the weight of a bowling ball). The cervical spine is designed to facilitate head movement in every direction. Although, the cervical spine allows for a large range of motion, when there is an injury it can result in connective tissue damage and joint misalignment.

Neck pain can be due to a number of causes that are usually ignored by people until the symptoms of PAIN develop, which can often times takes months, or years to show up.

Some of the most typical CAUSES of neck pains include:

An injury due to an accident such as a slip or a fall, sports injury, work injury and VERY commonly due to an automobile accident. The bottom line is any whiplash type of injury involving the head and neck will VERY likely injure the delicate connective tissues in the neck which can be torn, this is the foundation for spinal misalignment, and for NECK PAIN TO DEVELOP as the spine will misalign into an unbalanced stressed position.

Poor posture in daily life. This is the daily slouching at work or at home on the couch or trying to use a chair that is poorly fitted for your size. This repetitive stress on ligaments and tendons can stretch out and damage these tissues resulting in an unbalanced spine. An unbalanced spine will result in high stress areas which become irritated and inflamed eventually resulting in pain and other problems.

Upper Cervical Chiropractic Care For Neck Pain

Upper Cervical Chiropractic Care involves a systematic approach to understand the root cause of your neck pain. This includes a routine exam to locate the source of your pain and multiple questions to evaluate your symptoms such as:

What have you done for your neck pain already?

When did the neck pain start?

Has the pain started to radiate or travel to other parts of your body yet?

Does anything reduce the pain or make it worse?

This may also be followed by an examination which commonly includes:

Precision x-ray and postural analysis to determine the nature and degree of spinal misalignment.

Determining which muscles are inflamed and chronically strained or are in spasm.

Skin temperature differential for the detection of neurological insult.

Cranial nerves may be tested to determine any deficits related to spine damage.

Neck Correction Method

Upper Cervical Chiropractic Care is designed to help you through a specialized procedure of head and neck correction to reposition the head to its proper position to remove stress on the joints and muscles below as well as beginning the process of spinal compensation correction. It is a highly precise and accurate procedure that involves a precision touch by hand to correct the spinal problem in the neck. It is designed to kick start the healing process so you can have relief from your symptoms, that will start to become permanent as your body heals itself.

This results in:

Improvements in mobility of the spine.

Restoring range of motion of the head and neck joint.

Increasing movement of the adjoining muscles of the head, neck and back, as well as decreasing spasm and chronic strain due to spinal imbalance.

Improves circulation of blood in and out of the head.

As the body heals, there will be further reduction in stiffness, soreness, and strain on the neck and spinal muscles.

What To Expect From Care?

Upper Cervical Chiropractic Care will offer you a complete and thorough program, customized for your individual needs. It will also include a care plan to restore the spine to proper working order.

Dr. Grayson Blom works with a nationwide group of Doctors expertly trained and specializing in the Upper Cervical procedure.Dr. Blom is also one of the few Doctors in the state of Idaho trained and certified in the Upper Cervical procedure. We are dedicated to helping patients just like you who suffer from chronic neck pain, headaches, migraines, shoulder pain, back pain and other ailments and dis-eases.